“Sage Advice” Soft Pastel 12” x 16” UArt 400 Sanded Paper
This is my 3 years and a day older brother, Bob. As kids in the fifties, on any given day we’d be bronco busters, pirates, Tarzan, or rocket pilots blasting into space. Very convincingly.
He handed me my first art book when I was 5. From the day he entered first grade until he went off to college, every single book non text book that he read, he handed me to read. The school said Bob’s IQ was off the charts, so my reading base was pretty interesting as a kid. He plays 11 instruments and is a retired inventor and software engineer. He is still my go to person for life advice, everything from how to re-caulk a shower, computer problems and I imagine how to create an easel of mass destruction if one was doing a James Bond thing. He even taught me how to fly in kindergarten.
“Donny climb up onto the Chester draws (4ft high). That’s it, now jump out like Superman and land flat on this pad on your forearms first.”
Me: But!!!??!!…”
Bob: It’s easy. It’s just like swimming underwater except without the water."
Me: THUMP!
Turned out he ordered a book on Judo out of the back of a comic book and needed someone to throw. Hence my lessons in how to land. Took a while to master, but I assure you, occasional UFO sightings in our neighborhood were shrugged off with, “Oops there goes Donny.” Actually, he pretty much created me. Think Charles Schultz and Charlie Brown.
I wanted to do a special drawing of him. I mentioned to another artist I was struggling with this, and she suggested maybe it was the pressure of it being my big brother. That does have some merit here. I do owe him a good portrait. Despite his best efforts to mold me into a flawless unit, my inherent insecurities, imperfections, and overabundant hesitations like “But!!!??!!…” made their way into my psyche.
Particularly with art, which is the one arena Bob just sat back and let me learn on my own. However I’m not at all worried about what Bob will think. He’s my biggest fan. How do you draw the guy that taught you to fly?
“Sage Advice” Soft Pastel 12” x 16” UArt 400 Sanded Paper
This is my 3 years and a day older brother, Bob. As kids in the fifties, on any given day we’d be bronco busters, pirates, Tarzan, or rocket pilots blasting into space. Very convincingly.
He handed me my first art book when I was 5. From the day he entered first grade until he went off to college, every single book non text book that he read, he handed me to read. The school said Bob’s IQ was off the charts, so my reading base was pretty interesting as a kid. He plays 11 instruments and is a retired inventor and software engineer. He is still my go to person for life advice, everything from how to re-caulk a shower, computer problems and I imagine how to create an easel of mass destruction if one was doing a James Bond thing. He even taught me how to fly in kindergarten.
“Donny climb up onto the Chester draws (4ft high). That’s it, now jump out like Superman and land flat on this pad on your forearms first.”
Me: But!!!??!!…”
Bob: It’s easy. It’s just like swimming underwater except without the water."
Me: THUMP!
Turned out he ordered a book on Judo out of the back of a comic book and needed someone to throw. Hence my lessons in how to land. Took a while to master, but I assure you, occasional UFO sightings in our neighborhood were shrugged off with, “Oops there goes Donny.”
Actually, he pretty much created me. Think Charles Schultz and Charlie Brown.
I wanted to do a special drawing of him. I mentioned to another artist I was struggling with this, and she suggested maybe it was the pressure of it being my big brother. That does have some merit here. I do owe him a good portrait. Despite his best efforts to mold me into a flawless unit, my inherent insecurities, imperfections, and overabundant hesitations like “But!!!??!!…” made their way into my psyche.
Particularly with art, which is the one arena Bob just sat back and let me learn on my own. However I’m not at all worried about what Bob will think. He’s my biggest fan. How do you draw the guy that taught you to fly?